A state law creating the first registry of people convicted of domestic abuse in the US took effect Thursday in Tennessee.
Named after Savanna Puckett, a woman who was shot to death by her ex-boyfriend in January 2022, “Savanna’s law” requires the Tennessee bureau of investigation to maintain a database of people who have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to at least two domestic violence offenses.
The database will include the offender’s name, date of birth, and a photo and location of their convictions. It will not include their address.The database can include information about offenders for up to 20 years after their last conviction, although it is not retroactive. People will only be eligible for the database if they plead guilty to or are convicted of offenses after 1 January.
In January 2022, after Puckett failed to appear for work as a sheriff’s deputy in Robertson county in northern Tennessee, a co-worker went to her home and found it in flames. Firefighters later discovered Puckett’s body, which had been shot multiple times. James Jackson Conn, Puckett’s ex-boyfriend, pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree murder. He is now serving a life sentence.